A production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) was stopped mid-performance by a school official in Arizona who had brought 700 6th through 12th graders to see the play. She said, "There was inappropriate language and the content was very suggestive."
I'm guessing the kids missed most of the inappropriate language and suggestive content, and now they're kicking themselves for not paying more attention.
I saw this play a few years ago & just rented the DVD for my husband, son (eleven years old), & I to watch. Of course, some of the stuff was "inappropriate," but it was more than made up for by:
ReplyDelete1. Fake-vomiting on the audience in every death scene & a huge debate about whether Shakespeare was better with or without that element.
2.The football game to get through the histories all in about one minute--in which a penalty was called for having a fictional character (Lear) on the field.
3)Cutting one of the plays (Henry?) into 3 parts by hacking at the king with a sword.
This is one of the funniest plays I've ever seen. My husband was in tears, and my son had to keep pausing the DVD so he could breath between hysterical laughter.
Netflix!
ReplyDeleteMy family is going to love hearing about this post! That play is the source of many of our family catchphrases -- especially a sing-song chant of "Maybe, maybe not. I operate on the assumption that, unless a classic swearword is used, anyone who notices an sexual innuendo is old enough to cope with it. Which will probably get me in trouble someday.
ReplyDeleteWhy wasn't the principal busy laughing?